“The inner child” is an image in the soul of an adult, a metaphor that describes the unconscious part of our personality, which carries experience, the imprint of childhood. Healing the inner child is a deeply transformational work, as a result of which we will not only get to know him and make friends with him, but also find out what traumas and experiences prevent us from living, accept the wounded part of our soul and, in a certain sense, heal him. There is still that little child inside of us that is looking for our true needs to be met, a safe place for ourselves to be heard and receive unconditional love. And the healing process begins with this recognition. It is important to understand that we no longer need to seek support and confirmation of love from those who may have once caused us pain in childhood - be it our parents, brothers, sisters, significant adults, now we can completely give this to ourselves , turning inward. For the first time, I took the “Healing the Inner Child” practice at a leadership training in 2015 in Cheboksary, and then during training at the Imaton Institute of Practical Psychology in 2018 in St. Petersburg. The feelings were incredible - so much tenderness, empathy and love arose in my heart for that little girl. Through this practice, I gave my younger subpersonality a lot of care and safety, care and understanding, support and a sense of trust in the world. I recently read a book on this topic by Stephanie Stahl, “The Child in You Must Find a Home,” and the question of the importance of this topic again came up. According to the author, almost all psychological problems are associated with the dissatisfaction of one or more basic needs: * The need for affection * The need for independence and security * The need for positive emotions (joy) * The need for recognition and respect (self-dignity) Therefore, every time, when we are upset, overstressed, fearful or angry, basic needs come into play, or rather their dissatisfaction. Developing a harmonious and calm state of the “inner child” is the path to mental well-being and personal integrity. Where to start this journey? 1. Primary trust. For the inner child to trust the world, people and himself, we must create an unconditional space of support and love to be heard without criticism or judgment. 2. Validation is the most difficult thing (loyalty conflict). With all our love and gratitude to our loving parents and their efforts in our upbringing, we must understand that it was not in their power and ability to do everything right. Family norms and values ​​have created in us various persistent attitudes that prevent us from moving forward in life and coping with certain difficulties. “Nice” shaming, ignoring, some kind of punishment, undeniable orders for the purpose of education, abandonment, must be recognized as a fact that somewhere deeply wounded our self-esteem and soul. And if we, as adults, continue to perceive our parents as an ideal, we will not be able to separate ourselves in a healthy way and then it will be difficult to find our own path in life. That is, a realistic idea of ​​\u200b\u200bparents with their + and - does not contradict deep affection. We can love and appreciate them, and they do not have to be sinless and blameless. 3. Acceptance of all your feelings. Anger, anger, fear, aggression - we have the right to experience them, notice them, allow ourselves to them, be with them and somehow interact safely. When a person has little contact with his true feelings, then he has no contact with his needs. 4. After anger comes pain and sadness. If we are victims, we can mourn this betrayal, what could have been, our dreams and aspirations, our unmet development needs. Accept everything as it is. Otherwise, a deep feeling of guilt and then shame may arise, behind which the true “I” will hide. And the false “I” will come out. Then we will again continue not to hear and ignore ourselves in the same ways,»!